Special Investigations Unit clears Ottawa officers in drowning death of London homicide suspect Muhab Sultan

A London murder suspect who drowned while trying to escape police was solely to blame for his own death, Ontario’s police watchdog has ruled.

The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) cleared two Ottawa police officers of any wrongdoing in the death of Muhab Sultan, a suspect wanted in the death of a London teenager gunned down after he went looking for his lost cellphone.

Sultan, 23, was sought on a countrywide arrest warrant on suspicion of second-degree murder of 18-year-old Jeremy Cook on June 14.

Ten days later, Sultan disappeared while trying to swim across Ottawa’s Rideau River in an attempt to evade police.

“In the circumstances, I am satisfied that Mr. Sultan’s death is the product of his own misadventure, and very likely the result of an ill-advised decision to enter the water in an effort to avoid police apprehension — a decision for which he alone is to blame,” acting SIU director Joseph Martino said in statement Friday.

Sultan had previously struck a police officer after he and another man were pulled over while driving in Ottawa, the SIU said. Police caught up with the vehicle and arrested the passenger but Sultan ran away, hiding in a backyard shed until the homeowner spotted him and called police.

That’s when Sultan entered the Rideau River, swimming half way across until he began to struggle.

Officers tried to swim out to Sultan, who screamed for help, but he disappeared under the water.

Martino commended police for acting “valiantly” in their efforts to save Sultan.

“They were tantalizingly close to reaching him before he dipped out of sight below the water’s surface. The officers remained in the river for a period of time and dove underwater to search for Mr. Sultan, but the water’s murkiness made the effort a futile one.”

Sultan’s body was recovered three days later downstream from where he was last seen.

A pathologist ruled the death a drowning, pending other tests.

The SIU assigned four investigators and one forensic investigator to probe the case that had six civilian witnesses and four witness officers.

The SIU interviewed both officers, who turned over copies of their notes, said the agency, which investigates cases of civilian injury or death involving police.

Born in London, Sultan moved to Calgary with his family in 2012 but often returned to his hometown.

His father, Sultan Sultan, said his son called him while on the lam and said he didn’t shoot Cook.

The elder Sultan couldn’t be reached for comment Friday.

A Brampton native who moved to London to attend Fanshawe College, Cook used an app to track his missing cellphone to a Highbury Avenue parking lot, where he approached a silver car with three men inside. One man left during the conversation about the phone, police said.

Cook grabbed onto the vehicle when it started to drive away, police said.

The car travelled about 200 metres to a plaza on Highbury at Huron Street, where shots were heard. Police arrived to find Cook’s body.

Mohamed Ibrahim Sail, 24, of Calgary turned himself in to police on July 11.